It was a busy weekend for college hoops in the area. By and large, it was also a successful one.

George Washington clinched the regular season Atlantic 10 title, beating Fordham 78-67 at the Smith Center Saturday night. Playing without injured forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the Colonials won their sixteenth straight game behind 19 points from sophomore guard Maureece Rice. His backcourt mates, Danilo Pinnock (17 points) and Carl Elliott (16 points) also stepped up in Pops’ stead. Alex Kireev replaced Mensah-Bonsu in the starting lineup and played well, but the 18 offensive rebounds the Colonials gave up will hurt them against a more formidable opponent.

At the MCI Center, Georgetown cruised to a 68-53 victory over archrival Syracuse. Jeff Green led four Hoyas in double figures with 18 points, and Georgetown overcame 40 percent shooting from the field with a 14-point advantage from the free throw line. Georgetown now sits in fifth place in the Big East at 10-5, with one game — at conference bottom-feeder South Florida on Saturday — remaining. With West Virginia and Pittsburgh, the two teams at 10-4 in conference play, facing off tonight, the Hoyas have at least an outside chance of garnering the fourth seed — and the first-round bye that comes with it — in next month’s Big East tournament.

After a disapponting debut in the Top 25 (didn’t hear much from you after that one, Patriots fans), George Mason bounced back with a 95-68 blowout of James Madison. Senior guard Lamar Butler — playing his final game in the Patriot Center — led the way with 27 points, including seven three-pointers. GMU ends the regular season with a share of the Colonial Athletic Association title, but due to tiebreakers, ends up with the #2 seed behind UNC-Wilmington in the conference tournament, which begins Friday in Richmond. Mason will play the winner of the Towson/Georgia State game. While the Patriots may not need the automatic NCAA bid that comes with a CAA tournament title, a loss will have them sweating it out on Selection Sunday, and exiting before the championship game will probably spell NIT for GMU.

Filed Under: Big East, bigeast, bigten, Carl Elliott, college, Colonial Athletic Association, Danilo Pinnock, florida, george mason, george washington, georgetown, Georgia State, green, James Madison, Jeff Green, Kyle Gustafson, Lamar Butler, Maureece Rice, maureecerice, MCI Center, NCAA, patriot center, patriotleague, patriots, pittsburgh, Pops Mensah, rice, shooting, Smith Center, South Florida, sports, The Smith, theeagles, theterps, virginia, washington, west virginia,